Port (10) +5 on House Fortune Rolls; if Marketplace, +1d6 instead of +1 to add to Wealth

Motto – Oft Tested, Never Bested

Coat of Arms – A sanguine mountain against an azure dancette upon a purpure field

Conquest

Glory

Decline

Lord Cyrus Gaerryn heads House Gaerryn, a healthy bit of land featuring an island main dominated by the Dragonmaw, a formidable range of crags that serve as the land's namesake. As the aging lord of the house, Cyrus Gaerryn's measured composure is as inherited from his predecessors as his Valyrian features. The furious sea and oppressive terrain of Dragonmaw proper raised a busy people, these early warriors who had served and sailed with Aegon the Conqueror. Whereas House Valcarys sailed further, the smaller ships of those who would be the first of House Gaerryn broke shore at the coastline that is now Dragonmaw's port. War-hardened and calloused hands worked the mountains into a defendable home, and the Gaerryns established a foothold in the "jaws of the dragon," a fearsome array of stony spires that seem to tear the sky asunder.

Dragonmaw's peoples would not rest for long, however. The former warriors would be roused to battle once again in the Dance of the Dragons and later during the Blackfyre Rebellion. Fighting alongside their Valcarys brethren once more, House Gaerryn proved their true trade was not forgotten. As the smaller house had not the notoriety of the larger, the people of Dragonmaw received little glory for their services. Duty-bound and loyal until the end, the upstart house suppressed their dismay and returned to their new home.

House Gaerryn's sole strength would be tried soon enough, however, as the ironmen would extend their reach to claim the prospering port of Dragonmaw. The natives took up arms once again to repel these invaders set on claiming the newly established land. The raiders' initial attempts were met with furor by both sea and man, as the seasoned warships led the pursuing ironmen into traps of dangerous reefs and other such hidden dangers. Granted a reprieve, the defenders readied their archers at key strategic locations amidst the inhospitable terrain. Resorting to guerilla tactics of land and sea familiar only to those who had mastered the harsh lands, House Gaerryn fought back the ironmen over a period of weeks. This stalwart defense gained honor for the isolated peoples, and they took this opportunity to rejoin with House Valcarys.

Today House Gaerryn serves as a banner house to House Valcarys, further bolstering the larger house's already impressive military force. Dragonmaw's leaders have dwindled in the times of peace, falling victim to an illness that even Cyrus Gaerryn seems to have inherited. The motto "Oft Tested, Never Bested" has held true of house Gaerryn when faced with challenges of the martial realm, but if anything were to happen to Cyrus before his young son Willem comes of age, the house could fall prey to a truly cruel irony.